Robbie Smith, from the National Park Service, was our personal guide to the historic Yorktown battlefield's history. This battle, while not the last in the Revolutionary war, was the most pivotal. British General Cornwallis' 7,000 professionally trained troops were soundly defeated by the "unprepared and inferior numbers of the amateur and uncoordinated Colonial militia." The combined forces of General Washington's Continental army plus 5,000 French troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau, and with help from General La Fayette and his men, a force of 17,000 strong had beleaguered and trounced Cornwallis' unsuccessful siege of this area, destroying Cornwallis' chance of capturing the Williamsburg area, then capital of Virginia at that time. We would again meet Robbie in the Towne of Yorke, later that day, posted to another station at the Thomas Nelson Jr. house. DW5D4151
Three replica ships were harbored at the historic Jamestowne Museum campus. Tours are conducted on the larger of the three. DW5D4370
Inside the ship at Jamestowne. DW5D4374_1_HDR